The Gunners weren’t at their free-flowing best in Wednesday night’s draw with Paris Saint-Germain, letting a lead slip from a strong position, and that followed unconvincing displays against Tottenham and Manchester United in their last two league outings.

Arsenal will be confident that this game can be different, especially with Eddie Howe’s side having to line up at the Emirates Stadium without on-loan Gunners midfielder Jack Wilshere, who is ineligible for the game.

Can Arsenal get back to winning ways this weekend? Here’s our preview of this Sunday’s game…

It’s a big game for…

Alexis Sanchez.

Alexis Sanchez could do with a goal this weekend (Picture: Getty)

With just three goals in his last ten games, the Chilean is arguably starting to show that he’s not the ideal choice for Arsene Wenger up front, and that’s shown as Olivier Giroud has become increasingly involved recently.

Even playing out wide, Sanchez has long been renowned for his ability as a goal-scoring winger and should be contributing more after disappearing slightly in some recent big games.

Likely line ups…

As usual, the one fairly certain change to the Arsenal XI this weekend will be the return of Petr Cech in goal to replace Champions League ‘keeper David Ospina.

Nacho Monreal should also come in for Kieran Gibbs at left-back, while Theo Walcott replacing Alex Iwobi in the attacking midfield department seems a sensible option.

Less clear is if Olivier Giroud will get the nod up front again, though he looks considerably more reliable in front of goal than Sanchez at the moment, so should get the nod in a game Arsenal cannot afford to take lightly.

Finally, there’s got to be some scope for Wenger changing his midfield and finally giving Granit Xhaka a start after recently omitting him from the first eleven for no obvious reason, with Aaron Ramsey perhaps making way for the Switzerland international who’s more than shown he’s ready for this level despite limited chances.

If you memorise one stat, make it this…

Arsenal loan man Jack Wilshere has been Bournemouth’s best creative player this season, carving out 17 chances for his team-mates, more than any other player.

He’ll undoubtedly be a big miss for them in this challenging fixture.

Jack Wilshere’s creativity will be missed this weekend (Picture: Getty)

Last time they met…

It was 2-0 at the Vitality Stadium, with two goals in two first-half minutes from Mesut Ozil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain delivering the points for the north Londoners on that occasion.

Bournemouth gave a good account of themselves in that match, but ultimately it was Arsenal’s quality that shone through, even if they were in a bit of a sticky patch that eventually ended up costing them a serious chance at the title.

Can this man get on the score sheet again? (Picture: Getty)

From the archives…

With these two sides having only met three times in their entire history, there’s not a great deal of archive material to work with here.

Still, here it is, the only game Arsenal and Bournemouth had played prior to their two Premier League meeting last season – a 3-0 win for the Gunners in the League Cup all the way back in 1987.

One or two familiar names played their part in this win though, with Arsenal legends Michael Thomas and Alan Smith both on the score sheet, along with Kevin Richardson.

Metro.co.uk prediction…

The way Arsenal are playing at the moment, they’re not in the kind of mood that’s going to see them roll Bournemouth over by any means.

Still, they remain unbeaten in 18 games and it’ll take some doing for Howe’s men to stage that kind of upset against them this weekend.

It might not be vintage Arsenal, but we’re going for a 2-0 win, as they did in both matches against the Cherries last season.